Pakistan Super League has now become a valuable brand for us, something on which we can build our cricket in the years to come. The T20 brand is so popular around the cricketing world that it is overshadowing the two other formats.
The legion of players wants to abandon their national contracts to become free agents and earn more and more money.
International cricket will also go the way players would want it to go. In this perspective, the PSL is a tool which can be used in a far better way.
Until now, we have used the League to promote players to the national side, not giving them the kind of maturity that is required to cope with the challenges of international cricket.
The result: we are still struggling as far as results are concerned, notably in the International Cricket Council (ICC) events.
Notably, the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 11) has shown remarkable improvement. Not only has it expanded to eight teams but standard-wise improvement was witnessed.
It all started when the auction was held and all eight teams were allowed to start on nearly even keel, with 15 Australian players available for selection.
The Australian spice – mainly Hyderabad Kings with head coach Jason Gillespie and skipper Marbus Labuschagne and Multan Sultan, with skipper Ashton Turner and head coach Tim Payne – ignited the PSL.
When young players rubbed shoulders with the hard-nosed Aussie players, they realised how far behind they were in terms of mental strength and game awareness.
Besides the standard of play, there is commercial growth and an increased global footprint. The Hyderabad franchise went for 175 crores per year, Rawalpindi for 185 and Multan Sultan re-sold for a whopping 245 crores.
The outdated traditional draft system is replaced with a player auction, aiming to boost player earnings and create a more competitive balance.
The auction system is now prevalent in all the T20 Leagues around the world. The team budgets rose to $1.6 million per franchise, a 45% increase, to attract elite international players with all teams given an opportunity of signing one player directly, out of the auction.
The tournament matches were increased to 44 from 34 and initially, there were six venues slated for the event. Sadly, the Gulf crisis forced the government to keep the PSL matches behind closed doors as an austerity measure.
The lack of crowd took some sheen off the League but it was very much needed. The title sponsors, Habib Bank, raised the money by a big 505% since the inaugural edition.
Of course, the main objective is to unearth some good players to play for the national team. This year’s PSL has thrown a number of good players, top of the pile is opening batter Sameen Minhas.
Sameer has shown remarkable confidence and bats without any fear, a much-needed trait at the international level which is sadly missing in our players. The same can be said of Farhan Yousuf.
It was befitting that Farhan, Pakistan Under-19 captain, hit the winning shot that gave Peshawar Zalmi their second PSL title. Mohammad Farooq impressed with his bottom-hand hitting for Lahore Qalandars.
Ali Raza, Mohammad Ismail, Mohammad Basit, Khaleel Ahmed, Rizwan Ullah, Razaullah Khan and Shahzad Gull were impressive with the ball and can be inducted into the national team as and when they mature.
Now is the time to reap the rewards of the brand PSL. The next T20 World Cup is just two years away. It will be held in Australia and New Zealand. Pakistan Cricket Board must start its preparations now.
They must ask the selection committee to select 15 top performers of PSL 11, all newcomers who have yet to play at the international level.
Then send the band of players to New Zealand and Australia and if we get seven to eight players from the two tours, then it will be a big step towards the 2028 World Cup. Before the World Cup, this squad can also be sent to the Los Angeles Olympics, where cricket stages a comeback.
If the PSL has risen two rungs, then PCB must also step up their planning by two-fold. A good organisation builds on results. The results from the PSL are good enough to improve our standards at the international level.
